The AMC distributed Taylor Swift: Eras Tour concert movie, per AMC, is eyeing an opening of $95M-$97M this AM, which means for them, the dust hasn’t settled yet. EntTelligence says 4.8M Swifties or people went to see Eras Tour this weekend, having paid an average of $20.75 for a ticket (across all formats). Anything above Joker‘s $96.2M opening is a record opening for the month of October.
But here’s the thing: rival distributors, which have access to all box office data, only see the pic as the second-best opener of October at around $94.3M. AMC, in their first wide release rodeo here, should be careful not to get over their skis, as team Swift will want to know where every nickel is coming from. Saturday is still estimated at $32.3M, which is a hair below Joker’s Saturday of $32.4M. A Sunday that’s off -15% from Saturday; AMC realizes, that is a high jump. After 6 PM today, foot traffic goes backwards. Being off 25% or 30% today is more in the realm, we hear.
“Even if tracking is broken, this is a fantastic opening in a post-pandemic world,” said one studio box office analyst today.
Beamed Elizabeth Frank, EVP, worldwide programming & chief content officer, AMC Theatres:
“We are grateful to Taylor Swift for allowing us to make Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film accessible to millions of fans in movie theatres around the world. Her spectacular performance delighted fans, who dressed up and danced through the film. With tremendous recommendations and fans buying tickets to see this concert film several times, we anticipate Taylor Swift: Eras Tour concert film playing to big audiences for weeks to come.”
Some 60% of the tickets were committed in advance (“unheard” of, per EntTelligence), which made tracking and other distribution sources go wild in projecting Eras Tour north of $100M. Since EntTelligence’s post-pandemic launch, Eras Tour is one of the highest presales they’ve ever seen. By way of an apples and oranges comparison due to the way Thursday night preview activity was handled on Eras Tour, Avatar: The Way of Water (sans Thursday) had 61% of their revenue locked and loaded at 9 AM PST for opening day.
As we knew well before Eras Tour opened, Swift was set in her U.S/Canadian opening to bury the entire domestic total of 2011’s Justin Bieber: Never Say Never ($73M), the previous highest- grossing concert pic stateside.
As we told you, moviegoers think the only place to see Eras Tour is at an AMC theater, and that’s because the circuit was the first to put the word out about their first distributed wide release before the competition. In flash Friday and Saturday grosses, AMC owns 95 of the top 100 highest-grossing theater spots, or 41% of the overall exhibition marketshare of the weekend.
The only non-AMC theaters in the top 100 are No. 44 Regal Irvine Spectrum, No. 73 Regal Bridgeport Village in Portland, OR, No. 83 Cineplex Winston Churchill in Toronto, No. 96 Cinemark Moosic in Wilkes Barres and No. 99 Regal Fresno Riverpark in California.
Top theater in the nation was AMC Disney Springs in Orlando with $239K so far, followed by AMC Lincoln Square with $217K, then third is AMC Boston Common with $199K. Cinemark had 13.8% of the weekend’s tickets sales on Swift, Regal was 13.2%, Canada’s Cineplex was 5.7%, and Marcus was fifth with 2.5%.
EntTelligence breaks down Eras Tour foot traffic as follows: 19% came before 1PM, 33% between 1PM-5PM, 36% between 5PM-8PM, and 12% after 8PM.
More victory laps for Eras Tour…
“It was another landmark weekend for cinemas, with moviegoers turning out in droves for a fantastic concert beautifully filmed for the big screen,” exclaimed NATO’s new President & CEO Michael O’Leary. “This year has been marked by unprecedented experiences for movie lovers in theaters across this nation. The ‘Eras Tour’ debut proves, yet again, that fans are eager to share other experiences in a communal way, with theater owners working creatively to build memorable moments in their cinemas.”
Imax and PLF repped 26% of the weekend. Imax stateside did $11.1M at 377 screens, or 11.4%. Global is $13.1M for Imax, which is the biggest opening for a musical act film, concert, or documentary. International markets earn $2M from 236 screens. Another 106 Imax international screens will open for Eras Tour on October 26 and November 3.
“The impressive numbers we’re seeing with Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour are usually reserved for Hollywood blockbusters, demonstrating how demand for the Imax Experience has expanded beyond our core audience,” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of Imax. “With this film, Taylor Swift has created an experience that is cinematic in every sense of the word — dazzling, immersive, and undeniably joyous — and in the sound and scope of Imax, it’s the closest thing to being at the concert itself.”
Ahead of opening, RelishMix, natch, noticed that word of mouth “ran positive” on Eras Tour.
Said the social media analytics firm, which counted over 523M followers for Swift on her social handles, “She’s proven her ability to mobilize local economies. Chatter from ‘Swifties’ called for unanimous support of the film, the battle cry ‘assemble SWIFTIES!’ and, “I’m traveling to Denver for opening night in the theater!!’ ringing loud and clear. Other die-hards are enchanted by the more accessible ticket price compared to the concert itself and plan to live out their Eras dreams at their local theater, ‘I don’t care what people say, I’m treating it like it’s the real thing. I couldn’t afford the concert ticket so I’ll settle for the movie’ Whatever Taylor era fans love best, the unanimous feeling seems to be that ‘She is about to actually save AMC theaters.’”
Swift dancing with Madonna-to-be Julia Garner at premiere the other night:
Total box office for all titles this weekend is estimated at $135.7M, +78% from the same frame in 2022, 11% above same period in 2021, but 4% off the pre-pandemic second weekend of October in 2019.
According to a NATO/Cinema Foundation survey of 6,000 moviegoers, 72% of film fans want to see more concert movies on the big screen.
1.) Taylor Swift: Eras Tour (AMC) 3,850 theaters, Fri $39M, Sat $32.3M Sun $23.7M-$25.7M 3-day $95M-$97M/Wk 1
2.) Exorcist: The Believer (Uni) Fri $3.8M (-68%) Sat $4.4M Sun $2.7M 3-day $11M, -58%, Total $48.6M/Wk 2
3.) Paw Patrol 2 (Par) 3,707 (-320) theaters, Fri $1.56M (-46%) Sat $3.3M Sun $2.1M, $7M (-38%) Total $49.9M/Wk 3
4.) Saw X (LG) 3,058 (-204) theaters, Fri $1.8M Sat $2.4M Sun $1.5M 3-day $5.7M (-27%) Total $41.4M/Wk 3
5.) The Creator (New Reg/20th)2,960 theaters (-720), Fri $1.16M (-34%), Sat $1.9M Sun $1.2M 3-day $4.3M (-31%), Total $32.4M/Wk 3
6.) A Haunting in Venice (Dis) 2,290 (-135) theaters Fri $580K (-24%) Sat $908K Sun $564K 3-day $2.05M (-24%)/Total $38.99M/Wk 5
7.) The Blind (Fath) 1,165 (-142) theaters Fri $532K Sat $851K Sun $638K , 3-day $2M (-38%), Total $13.9M/Wk 3
8.) The Nun 2 (NL) 2,128 theaters (-364), Fri $500K (-33%) Sat $715K Sun $400K 3-day $1.61M (-38%) Total $83.7M/Wk 6
9.) Equalizer 3 (Sony) 1,524 (-2) theaters Fri $266k (-49%) Sat $440K Sun $254K 3-day $960K (-47%), Total: $90.5M /Wk 7
10.) Dumb Money (Sony) 2,276 (-561) theaters, Fri $260K (-61%) Sat $415k Sun $245K 3-day $920K (-57%), Total $12.6M/Wk 5